Department for Business and Trade

Housing: Construction

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of skills shortages in small and medium construction businesses on housing construction.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department for Business and Trade does not produce assessments of skills shortages in small and medium construction businesses, and the impact of these on housing construction. Annual forecasts of demand for construction skills by occupation and by region and Devolved Administration are produced by the Construction Skills Network. The forecast for 2023-27 was published on 18 January 2023, and identifies the need for 225,000 additional construction workers during that period, based on likely demand. This forecast is publicly available on the website of the Construction Industry Training Board.(https://www.citb.co.uk/about-citb/construction-industry-research-reports/construction-skills-network-csn/).

Housing: Construction

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Levelling Up on the number of SMEs building houses.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Ministers engage in regular discussions with their counterparts, as well as with firms in the construction industry, on a range of issues relating to the construction sector.

Department for Business and Trade: Data Protection

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure of 14 June 2023 at Topical Questions, T7, Official Report, column 286, what plans her Department has to (a) utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill and (b) use smart data in new sectors.

Kevin Hollinrake: There is exciting potential to explore Smart Data in further sectors. The Department chairs the Smart Data Council which brings together government, regulators and industry experts to ensure that the UK continues to be at the forefront of developments in this space.Before committing to utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No.2) Bill in any given sector, there is work to be done to understand how Smart Data can empower consumers and turbo charge competition.Officials from the Department for Business and Trade are working with HM Treasury officials on the new long-term regulatory framework for Open Banking, which intends to use these powers.

Retail Trade: Living Wage and Safety

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Government is taking steps to encourage UK retailers to audit their supply chains on a continuous basis to ensure that workers in those supply chains are (a) paid a living wage and (b) work in a safe environment.

Kevin Hollinrake: This Government is committed to building an economy that works for everyone. Through the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the National Living Wage (NLW) the Government protects the lowest paid within our society. On 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage increased 9.7% to £10.42 from £9.50 an hour. The Government takes reports of serious labour exploitation and illegal working practices very seriously, and regularly engage on these issues.

Food: Advertising

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had discussions with supermarkets on the potential merits of supermarkets introducing reward schemes for purchases of healthy food.

Kevin Hollinrake: Decisions about reward schemes are a commercial matter, and therefore a matter for individual retailers. The ‘Good Choice’ badge helps people identify healthier options using the NHS Food Scanner app and when shopping in store and online. The app and wider Better Health tools support families on their journey towards having a healthier diet.

Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she plans to publish draft legislation to establish the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government has not set a date for publication of draft legislation relating to the establishment of the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority. The Government is committed to legislating when Parliamentary time allows.

Insolvency

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many (a) businesses and (b) people filed for bankruptcy in (i) York, (ii) Yorkshire and the Humber and (iii) England in each year since 2015.

Kevin Hollinrake: Information on company insolvencies is sourced from Companies House, which holds information on companies only, not all business types. Furthermore, the registered office address for a company may not be its trading location, and is often the address of the appointed Insolvency Practitioner handling the case.Subject to these caveats, numbers of company insolvencies in the requested locations were:YearYorkYorkshire and the HumberEngland20151021,85013,9132016901,94413,9682017611,85713,9762018742,00515,3902019992,14016,5542020671,65412,2662021862,10313,70120221402,85521,5442023 (to 31 May)381,1649,682   The numbers of individuals who entered bankruptcy were: YearYorkYorkshire and the HumberEngland2015471,55814,8082016441,38114,1312017471,36214,2202018371,53515,6562019391,47415,8012020341,16212,0032021157668,2322022265806,322 Numbers for 2023 form part of Official Statistics to be published in March/April 2024. The latest release can be found at Individual Insolvencies by Location, Age and Gender, England and Wales, 2022.

Employment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of changes in the level of the availability of workers.

Kevin Hollinrake: The recent Budget sought to address the barriers to participation in the Labour Market through a wide-reaching support package. For the Department for Business and Trade, this included measures on flexible working where we are reforming the statutory framework to provide all employees with the right to request flexible working from their first day of employment. These changes will significantly improve employees’ ability to request flexible working and bring an estimated additional 2.2 million people into scope of the entitlement. Evidence shows flexible working can help people stay in and return to work.

Clothing: Manufacturing Industries

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Departments are taking to help ensure that garment factories in Leicester East constituency are (a) inspected effectively and (b) meet legal obligations on (i) pay, (ii) safety and (ii) working conditions.

Kevin Hollinrake: HMRC enforces the National Minimum Wage on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade. Where HMRC identify other risks such as potential Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking, HMRC will make referrals to the bodies with the powers to investigate. Similarly, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will respond to intelligence about unsafe working practices that they receive from a variety of sources including workers and other agencies. This follow up includes inspection where it is the most effective form of intervention.

Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make it her policy to reduce Royal Mail’s universal service obligation to five working days of Monday to Friday.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government currently has no plans to change the minimum requirements of the universal postal obligation which are set out in the Postal Services Act 2011, including the provision of a letter delivery service six days a week.

Department of Health and Social Care

Ultrasonics

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of waiting times for MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound treatment on a patients quality of life.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Mental Health Services: Standards

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the findings of the rapid review into patient safety in mental health inpatient settings.

Maria Caulfield: The findings of the rapid review have been published today [ 28 June 2023].

Mental Health Services: Wakefield

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for referral to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Wakefield constituency.

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Wakefield constituency.

Maria Caulfield: Information on waiting times is not collected as a national access and waiting times standard for children and young people’s mental health services in England has not yet been defined or set. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to increasing investment into mental health services by at least an additional £2.3 billion a year by March 2024. This will allow 345,000 more children and young people, including children and young people in Wakefield, to access NHS funded mental health support and improve waiting times. NHS England has also consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards as part of its clinically led review of NHS access standards. One of these is that children, young people and their families/carers presenting to community-based mental health services, should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. We are now working with NHS England on the next steps.

Dementia: Bexleyheath and Crayford

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the dementia diagnosis rate in the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.

Helen Whately: In December 2022, the recovery of the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7% was included in the NHS priorities and operational planning guidance as part of the refined mental health objectives for 2023/24. This reinforces the importance of dementia as a key priority for NHS England and provides a clear direction for integrated care boards to support delivery of timely diagnoses within systems.

Hypermobility

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of specialist care for people with (a) hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndromes and (b) hypermobility spectrum disorders.

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of whether (a) primary care and (b) rheumatology departments provide the most effective diagnoses of (i) hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndromes and (ii) hypermobility spectrum disorders.

Helen Whately: General rheumatology services, which support people with a range of conditions, including hEDS and HSD, are locally commissioned by integrated care boards which are best placed to make decisions according to local need.Rheumatologists have knowledge and familiarity with hypermobility and related conditions. Other clinicians, such as general practitioners and expert physiotherapists, are being empowered to identify and diagnose the condition through the use of validated approved clinical guidelines and toolkits. This should help to reduce delays in diagnosis.

World Health Organisation: Disease Control

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which (a) Government department and (b) Minister has responsibility for negotiations on (i) the World Health Organization Pandemic Preparedness Treaty and (ii) proposed amendments to the World Health Organization International Health Regulations (2005); and what recent assessment the Government has made of the potential effects of these measures.

Will Quince: The negotiations taking place at the World Health Organization (WHO) on the Pandemic Instrument are jointly led by the Department of Health and Social Care and the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office. The negotiations taking place on the proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR) are being led by the Department of Health and Social Care. Myself and the Minister of State for Development and Africa, the Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP.Both negotiations are Member State led and no text or amendments have been agreed yet for either instrument. The UK continues to negotiate the text of the Pandemic Instrument and the amendments to the IHR to ensure delivery of our priorities and provide the tools to achieve improvements globally in key areas of health emergency preparedness, prevention, and response. This could include promoting fast and open sharing of genetic sequencing data and pathogen samples; improving the implementation of the IHR; strengthening surveillance and detection of emerging diseases; strengthening health systems; increasing timeliness of emergency reporting; and promoting international collaboration on science and research.

Incontinence: Medical Equipment

Ian Paisley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance he has issued to (a) providers of (i) inpatient and (ii) outpatient care and (b) patients receiving community care on (A) the assessment and selection of the most clinically appropriate absorbent continence care products for patients with incontinence and (B) the delivery of person centred care; and whether he has made an estimate of the cost of provision of products other than the most clinically appropriate for such patients.

Will Quince: While no known central guidance has been issued to date on this topic, local areas may have developed a local formulary where they recommend the use of specific products. We have not made a central estimate of the cost of different provision. However, we are working to improve spend data systems through implementation of the medtech strategy.National Health Service commissioners in England are responsible for urinary continence care based on the available evidence and taking into account guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of health services in their local health economy.NHS England’s Excellence in Continence Care guidance, published in July 2018, which brings together evidence-based resources and research for guidance for commissioners, providers, health and social care staff, further indicates that personalised care including personal health budgets can be arranged locally by ICBs to help people manage and pay for their continence care needs.

NHS: Staff

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has held with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for the long-term workforce plan.

Will Quince: The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care routinely engages in meetings and discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, covering a range of issues including workforce planning and funding.

Medical Treatments Abroad

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing funding for people to access treatment abroad that is not available on the NHS.

Will Quince: We have no current plans to make an assessment. However, commissioners may choose to do this for individuals in exceptional circumstances. The reciprocal healthcare agreements that the United Kingdom has with the EU and Switzerland supports planned treatment abroad, when it would normally be available on the NHS, through the “S2 scheme”. Individuals must meet certain other eligibility criteria, such as experiencing undue delay when waiting for treatment.

Whipps Cross Hospital: Repairs and Maintenance

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral statement of 25 May 2023, Official Report, column 477, when his Department will confirm how much funding will be provided for the rebuilding of Whipps Cross Hospital; and when the funding will be available to Barts Health NHS Trust.

Will Quince: We are committed to delivering the Whipps Cross New Hospital Programme scheme by 2030 and we are working with all Trusts to progress their new hospital builds with the certainty of the Programme now expected to be backed by over £20 billion. All schemes in the Programme, including Barts Health NHS Trust, have now received the details of of individual indicative funding envelopes to work towards in the progression of their schemes. The disclosure of individual funding allocations is commercially sensitive information and could undermine future negotiating positions for the scheme, and should therefore not be released into the public domain. As per usual process, the availability of the funding for the full scheme is subject to the Final Business Case being reviewed and agreed. Up to the end of financial year 2022/2023, Barts Health NHS Trust has received £18.9m to support the development of the business case as well as a range of preparatory activity to prepare the site ahead of main construction, such as demolition works.

Electronic Cigarettes

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Tobacco Control Plan's aim to deliver the ambition of a smoke-free society by 2030 includes vaping.

Neil O'Brien: The ambition for England to be Smokefree by 2030 covers smoking prevalence only. It does not cover the prevalence of vaping.

Euthanasia: Wales

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Welsh Government on devolving powers in relation to assisted dying.

Maria Caulfield: There have been no discussions with the Welsh Government on devolving powers in relation to assisted dying.

Surgical Mesh Implants

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to support patients who are awaiting the removal of mesh.

Maria Caulfield: There are nine specialist mesh centres in operation across England, ensuring that women in every region with complications of mesh inserted for urinary incontinence and vaginal prolapse gets the right support. Each mesh centre is led by a multi-disciplinary team to ensure patients get access to the specialist care and treatment that they need, including pain management and psychological support.These teams include surgeons, physicians, imaging specialists, nurses, pain specialists, physiotherapists, and clinical psychologists and provide care, treatment and support in line with the standards set out in the published service specification. The Mesh Centres receive patient referrals via the patient’s general pracitioner or through a referral received from a patient’s local hospital or their treating clinician.

Neurology: York Central

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of (a) mental health and (b) well-being support for people affected by neurological conditions in York Central constituency.

Maria Caulfield: The Department has made no assessment. The Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board is responsible for decisions about the provision of mental health services and well-being support in York and whether they are adequate to meet the needs of people, including those affected by neurological conditions, in the local population.

Autism and Learning Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the role of integrated care systems in implementing the Building the Right Support Action Plan.

Maria Caulfield: No specific assessment has been made. Reducing reliance on mental health inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people remains a key commitment for the National Health Service, re-affirmed in 2023/24 NHS planning guidance for local systems.Each integrated care board (ICB) produces a five year joint forward plan with partner trusts and foundation trusts. This will include the needs of the entire local population, including people with a learning disability and autistic people.In May 2023, NHS England published statutory guidance on Executive Lead roles within ICBs including the requirement to have a lead for learning disability and autism. The guidance states that the role of the ICB executive lead for learning disability and autism is to support the Chief Executive and the Board so that the ICB performs its functions effectively in the interests of people with a learning disability and autistic people in the local area.As committed to in the Building the Right Support Action Plan, NHS England has published refreshed guidance on Dynamic Support Registers and Care (Education) Treatment Reviews which sets out expectations for ICBs on which people with a learning disability and autistic people should be added to the local dynamic support register, and about what actions should follow as a result of a person being on a register.

NHS Test and Trace: Enfield

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department (a) allocated and (b) disbursed to Enfield Council via the Covid-19 Test and Trace Service Support Grant.

Maria Caulfield: In June 2020, the Department distributed funding to local authorities in England to action the development of local outbreak management plans, under the former name of the Test and Trace Support Service Grant, which later became the Contain Outbreak Management Fund. Enfield Council received £1,582,042 in this first allocation.

Contain Outbreak Management Fund: Enfield

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department (a) allocated and (b) disbursed to Enfield Council under the Contain Outbreak Management Fund.

Maria Caulfield: The Test and Trace Support Service Grant was subsequently renamed the Contain Outbreak Management Fund and expanded to provide local authorities with further financial support, of which Enfield Council received £10,777,239.

Mental Health: Children and Young People

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2022 survey published by NHS Digital on 29 November 2022, how many and what proportion of children and young people aged (a) 7 to 10, (b) 11 to 16, (c) 7 to 16 and (d) 17 to 24 have a probable mental health disorder in each (i) region of England and (ii) integrated care system area in the latest period for which data is available.

Maria Caulfield: The information requested is not available at regional or integrated care system level as the response rate and number of respondents to the survey is too small a sample to be statistically significant.

Department for Work and Pensions

Department for Work and Pensions: Automation

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish details on the sixty-five scaled and transitioned automations created by the Intelligence Automation Garage.

Mims Davies: Housing Benefit regulations has powers which allow local authorities to make payments of Housing Benefit direct to the landlord if it appears to be in the interest of the claimant and their family. Serious rent arrears, for example arrears equivalent of six weeks’ rent, may indicate it is in the claimant’s best interests to arrange direct payment. When deciding whether to make direct payments local authorities must consider the individual circumstances of each case. There are currently no plans to review this policy.

Housing Benefit: Private Rented Housing

Duncan Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring that housing benefit is paid directly to landlords.

Mims Davies: Housing Benefit regulations have powers which allow local authorities to make payments of Housing Benefit direct to the landlord if it appears to be in the interest of the claimant and their family. Serious rent arrears, for example arrears equivalent of six weeks’ rent, may indicate it is in the claimant’s best interests to arrange direct payment. When deciding whether to make direct payments local authorities must consider the individual circumstances of each case. There are currently no plans to review this policy.

Poverty: Children

Holly Mumby-Croft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the extension to the Household Support Fund to March 2024, what other steps his Department is taking to help reduce child poverty in (a) North Lincolnshire and (b) the UK.

Mims Davies: The Government is committed to reducing child poverty and supporting low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and their children. From April, we uprated benefit rates by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions the benefit cap levels have also increased by the same amount. With 1.05 million job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting individuals, including parents, to move into, and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children. The latest statistics show that in 2021/22 children living in workless households were around 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work. To support those who are in work, from 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) increased by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW. At the Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced an ambitious package of measures designed to support people wherever they live in the UK to enter work, increase their working hours and extend their working lives. We are investing billions in additional childcare support for parents of toddlers, investing in wraparound childcare in schools, and increasing financial support for, and expectations of, parents claiming Universal Credit. This government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living which is why we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising bills. For people who require additional support, the Household Support Fund has been extended until March 2024. This year long extension allows Local Authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need in response to the significantly rising cost of living. The Devolved Administrations will receive consequential Barnett funding, as with all England-only investment, to spend at their discretion. For the period April 2023 to March 2024, the total Household Support Fund allocation for North Lincolnshire is £2,647,785.53.

Social Mobility

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to improve social mobility among young people.

Mims Davies: Alongside education, employment plays a crucial role in helping to improve social mobility among young people. The DWP Youth Offer provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are in the Universal Credit Intensive Work Search group. This includes more intensive support early in their Universal Credit claim, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain. Our Work Coaches support young people’s individual aspirations, identify and help address skills gaps and wider barriers to entering work or progressing in their careers. They are supported by a network of dedicated Jobcentre Plus outreach leads specialising in areas including support for young care leavers or who – in the case of our support for schools’ advisers – are helping young people in schools in disadvantaged areas develop successful career pathways. Spring Budget confirmed that the Youth Offer will be extended to the end of the Parliament and – from Autumn – will be expanded so more young Universal Credit claimants can access this dedicated support. DWP is a strong champion for social mobility and has met with the Social Mobility Commission and celebrated National Social Mobility Awareness Day. Alongside this, DWP has established the Social Mobility Pledge Consortium in partnership with Talk Talk. The pledge asks businesses to make measurable commitments to diversify the backgrounds of their workforce and help vulnerable people progress. We celebrated some of the achievements our nearly 120 employer signatories have made over the last year at a national conference at the Tottenham Hotspur football stadium on Tuesday 20th June.

Jobcentres: Artificial Intelligence

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using artificial intelligence to help job seekers find employment.

Mims Davies: As in many other aspects of the economy, artificial intelligence is now affecting job seeking and employers’ recruitment. DWP is already working to understand the challenges and opportunities Artificial Intelligence presents. In 2022 DWP launched our Job Matching Pilot to test and learn how new technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, might support jobseekers in all stages of planning, searching and applying for jobs. We will continue to monitor this rapidly developing area and the department will consider opportunities for Artificial Intelligence and other technologies to better support jobseekers, alongside help from our Jobcentres, work coaches, partners and our digital services, including DWPs own Find a Job and Job Help.

Support for Mortgage Interest

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme, in the context of the increase in the bank rate in June 2023.

Mims Davies: No assessment has been made of the adequacy of Support for Mortgage interest (SMI) since interest rates have risen, although the Department continues to monitor the impact of our policies on an on-going basis. SMI is intended to provide reasonable support by making a contribution towards mortgage interest to protect claimants against the threat of repossession. The rate of SMI we pay is based on the Bank of England average and recently increased from 2.09% to 2.65% in May 2023. Any further changes will occur when the average differs by 0.5 percentage points or more. To support low-income mortgage borrowers with rising interest rates, from April 2023, we extended the support SMI provides by allowing those on Universal Credit to apply for a loan after three months, instead of nine. We also abolished the rule which prevented Universal Credit claimants from receiving support if they were in work.

Bus Services: Working Conditions

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has held recent discussions with (a) Unite the Union and (b) other trade representative bodies on the welfare of bus drivers working on buses without air conditioning.

Mims Davies: We have not had any recent discussions with representatives from Unite the Union or other trade representative bodies on the welfare of bus drivers working on buses without air conditioning. The Health and Safety Executive has advised that employers (including bus companies) have a legal obligation under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 to make a suitable assessment of the risks to the health and safety of workers and act where necessary to minimise those risks as far as reasonably practicable. This would include the risks from extreme weather events such as heatwaves. If workers have concerns about their working conditions, in the first instance, they should raise any issues with their employer or via worker representatives such as Trade Union Representatives.

Department for Work and Pensions: Automation

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) planned workforce and (b) budget is for the Intelligence Automation Garage.

Mims Davies: The goal of The Intelligent Automation Garage (IAG) is to develop standardised governance and best practice for uses of automations. In terms of planned workforce, we have a team of 80 people who work within the Intelligent Automation Garage. The current contracts value is £10.5m over the length of those agreements already in place.

State Retirement Pensions: Uprating

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of raising the rate of pensions in line with (a) rent and (b) other cost of living expenses.

Laura Trott: The Government remains committed to ensuring that older people can live with the dignity and respect they deserve, and the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people.In April, the State Pension saw its biggest ever rise, increasing by 10.1%. The full yearly amount of the basic State Pension is now over £3,050 higher, in cash terms, than in it was 2010. That’s £790 more than if it had been uprated by prices, and £945 more than if it had been uprated by earnings (since 2010). The increase of 10.1% is in line with the Consumer Price Index which includes changes in rents in the basket of goods used to measure it. The Government has also supported pensioners with additional payments to reflect the exceptional cost of living pressures. This year this includes a Pensioner Cost of Living Payment worth up to £300 in the winter of 2023/24 to all pensioner households and additional cost of living payments of up to £900 for households on eligible means-tested benefits, including Pension Credit. For those who require additional support the Government has provided an additional £1 billion of funding as a further extension of the Household Support Fund.

Pensions: Advisory Services

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of individuals that are unable to use the online pensions portal.

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential adequacy of the pension portal for people uploading verification documents.

Laura Trott: The Check your State Pension Forecast (CySPF) service allows citizens to get an estimate of their State Pension and the earliest they may get it. Identity verification is important so that information is provided safely to the right person. Verification can be met by providing information from the user’s UK Passport, UK Driving Licence, pay slip or P60. Many millions of people have accessed their SP forecast using CySPF. Individuals who are unable to satisfy the identity verification requirements via the CySPF service can contact the Future Pension Centre instead to verify their identity and get a State Pension forecast.

Social Security Benefits

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to (a) encourage and (b) support people on benefits back into work.

Guy Opperman: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to getting people into work and making work pay. Our core Jobcentre offer provides a wide range of support for jobseekers to start, stay and succeed in employment, including face-to-face time with work coaches and access to skills and employment support programmes. This is alongside specific support targeted towards young people, people aged 50 plus and job seekers with disabilities or health issues. Additionally, DWP measures at Spring Budget represent an investment of £3.5bn over 5 years to further boost workforce participation.

Universal Credit

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many legacy benefit claimants have been migrated to Universal Credit (a) without appropriate notice; and (b) earlier than advised.

Guy Opperman: There are no statistics available for those not given appropriate notice or claimed earlier than advised. Claimants may migrate from legacy benefit to Universal Credit (UC) without notice, where they choose to claim UC, or a change of circumstances requires them to make a claim. The remainder of legacy claimants that the Department is requiring to move to UC are sent a Migration Notice, which includes a deadline date of a minimum of three months and signposts the support available on how to claim. The Department also sends reminders to claim by the specified date.

Universal Credit: Rented Housing

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the impact Universal Credit migration will have on a claimant’s ability to meet rent costs; and what information his Department holds on the extent of rent arrears as a result of obligatory Universal Credit migration.

Guy Opperman: The Department is committed to monitoring and evaluating the impact of its policies. The Department has introduced measures to minimise arrears due to migration: People who receive Housing Benefit and then claim Universal Credit will receive a two-week Transition to UC Housing Payment, when that Universal Credit claim causes their Housing Benefit claim to cease. A two-week Transition to UC Housing Payment will also be paid to those claimants who have been required to claim Universal Credit as part of the managed migration process but fail to do so by the deadline they have been given for making that claim.

Universal Credit: Battersea

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Battersea constituency are in receipt of legacy benefits; how many of them have made applications to transition to universal credit; and what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that people are made aware of the transition to universal credit.

Guy Opperman: We are not able to provide information on how many legacy claimants made a claim or migrated (transitioned) to Universal Credit (UC) in Battersea and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit: Social Rented Housing

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he had with London’s 15 largest Housing Associations on the potential impact of Universal Credit migration on a claimant’s ability to pay housing costs.

Guy Opperman: The Department ensures Social Rented Sector landlords are engaged with migration to Universal Credit. We use a number of channels, including hosting regular interactive forums, tailored for the Social Rented Sector, where we engage the National Housing Federation and a broad range of landlords, including multiple London landlords. Landlords can also subscribe to ‘Touchbase’ Sign Up Form (dwp.gov.uk) to receive DWP news about work, working age benefits, pensions and services.

Finance: Older Workers

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on (a) demographic and (b) diversity data for users of the Mid-life MOT service.

Guy Opperman: The Midlife MOT within Jobcentres was rolled out from the end of January 2023. Data is not yet available.

Finance: Older Workers

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people accessed the Mid-life MOT service in each month between April 2022 and May 2023.

Guy Opperman: The Midlife MOT within Jobcentres was rolled out from the end of January 2023. Data is not yet available.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2023 to Question 183052 on Social Security Benefits: Disqualification, whether he has considered the potential merits of undertaking such research.

Guy Opperman: We have no plans to undertake further research on sanctions.

Universal Credit: Cost of Living

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has he made of the implications for his policies of the report entitled Guarantee our essentials: reforming Universal Credit to ensure we can all afford the essentials in hard times published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on 27 February 2023.

Guy Opperman: No formal assessment has been made.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Food: Manufacturing Industries

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to promote food manufacturing within the UK.

Mark Spencer: Defra has robust engagement mechanisms with the food and drink manufacturing sector, recognising that it plays a vital role in stimulating innovation, generating good jobs and is an engine for regional economic growth due to its scale and pan-regional presence. The sector is vital for supporting levelling-up across the country, employing 434,000 people in in a variety of high-skilled and operational roles and contributing £28.8 billion to the UK economy in 2020. At the recent Farm to Fork Summit, senior ministers met with business leaders from across the supply chain including food and drink manufacturing to discuss how Government and industry can work together to support and promote a thriving UK food industry. In March this year, Defra held the National Food and Drink Summit which was attended by over 120 SMEs and Business Representative Organisations. The event focused on building capacity to support food and drink SMEs, which make up 98% of the food and drink manufacturing sector, and encouraged businesses to network, share best practice and explore opportunities for business growth.

Food Supply

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to improve food security.

Mark Spencer: The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. We produce 61% of all the food we need, and 74% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year, and these figures have changed little over the last 20 years.UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.The Farm to Fork Summit took place on 16 May 2023. Discussions focused on bringing great British food to the world; building resilience and transparency; strengthening sustainability and productivity across the supply chain; and growing an innovative, skilled food and farming sector. Engagement with the entire supply chain will continue as we deliver the commitments from the summit, to support our continued high levels of food security. Recognising the importance of food security, in the Agriculture Act 2020, the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years. The first UK Food Security Report was published in December 2021. The next Food Security Report will be published by the end of 2024.

Chemical and Biological Warfare

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to create resiliency plans for a (a) chemical, (b) biological, (c) radiological and (d) nuclear (i) attack and (ii) accident.

Rebecca Pow: Defra takes the challenge of recovery from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) attacks and major incidents very seriously. Defra maintains and creates a range of plans to manage the recovery from CBRN attacks and incidents and exercises these as required. Defra is also developing a range of capabilities to implement these plans if they are needed and is improving the UK’s ability to recover from these attacks and incidents.

Agriculture: Environment Protection

Sir Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she (a) received and (b) plans to publish the report of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, commissioned by Natural England pursuant to the Agri-Environment Schemes Species Monitoring Project.

Trudy Harrison: The report is currently with Natural England Agri-Environment Monitoring and Evaluation team, waiting on final clearance and the associated documents to be prepared for the Defra publication process. The timescales may vary but it is likely to be published in Quarter 3 of this year.A draft was produced in March 2022, followed by Natural England Technical Steering Group review and external peer review by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in July 2022. External peer review responses were returned in November 2022 and reviewed January 2023, followed by amendments with the final report submitted to Natural England on 18th May 2023.

Environmental Land Management Schemes

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farm businesses are participating in Environmental Land Management scheme programmes in each (a) constituency, (b) local authority and (c) region.

Mark Spencer: As of 21 June 2023, there were 42,708 farm businesses participating in Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes across England, constituting the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship schemes. In addition to these, there are 2,448 approved projects taking part in the Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme and a further 22 projects that were selected in the first round of the Landscape Recovery scheme. Details of participation in the ELM schemes at a constituency and regional level area are provided in the attached annex. We do not hold data at a local authority level.Participation in ELM schemes (xlsx, 27.3KB)

Animal and Plant Health Agency: Lancashire

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she made of the adequacy of the Animal Plant and Health Agency’s veterinary resources within Lancashire; and if she will make a statement.

Mark Spencer: For a current overview of the Animal Plant and Health Agency’s (APHA) veterinary resource, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 23 June 2023 to the hon. Member for Witney, PQ 189875. APHA has a team of seven field veterinary posts which provide veterinary resource for Lancashire and West Yorkshire. Recruitment is in progress to fill one vacancy in this team. APHA adopts flexible resourcing at a national level to meet delivery needs and works with veterinary delivery partners when needed to meet fluctuating demands. APHA also offers a free farm animal carcase collection service to most of Lancashire to enable diagnostic post-mortem examinations to be carried out by veterinary pathologists at the APHA laboratory in Penrith or at the University of Liverpool.

Inland Waterways: Access

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the commitment in the Environmental Improvement Plan that everyone should live within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space, what assessment she has made of the implications for that policy of the proportion of (a) waterways and (b) inland blue space in England that has a statutory right of public access.

Trudy Harrison: We know that there are significant health and wellbeing benefits to spending time in nature. That is why we announced in our Environmental Improvement Plan in January our intention to work across Government to ensure that everyone lives within a 15 minute walk of a blue or green space. We also committed to work in parallel to reduce barriers to access. Achieving delivery of these cross government commitments, to bring nature closer to people and reduce barriers to accessing it, is a long term goal. We are currently focused on developing the right modelling tools and indicators to allow us to accurately measure the baseline, identify where to target efforts and to track future progress, engaging closely with stakeholders as we do so. At the same time we continue to deliver existing work across Government in this area, such as the Access for All programme, the Green Infrastructure Framework, the Levelling Up Parks Fund and the Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Strategy. Access on waterways, and other inland blue spaces such as lakes, where there is no established public right of navigation should be arranged with the relevant landowners through local voluntary access agreements, to ensure the interests of all parties concerned are taken into account.

Air Pollution: Glasgow

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of air pollution in Glasgow since the inception of that city's low emission zone.

Trudy Harrison: The Scottish Government is responsible for air quality in Scotland.

Recycling

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to publish its response to the consultation entitled, Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England, which closed on 4 July 2021.

Rebecca Pow: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Burton, on 7 June 2023, PQ UIN 188380.

Restaurants: Recycling

Vicky Ford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2023 to Question 188370, when she plans to bring forward proposals to introduce re-use obligations.

Rebecca Pow: Re-use has a significant role to play in driving down unnecessary waste. In accordance with the waste hierarchy, the priority should be on reuse of materials, before recycling, and so we are working to identify measures that could be used to encourage greater use of reusable packaging. We will bring forward our proposals in 2025. In the meantime, EPR will contribute to a reduction in the creation of new packaging from virgin materials as producers are incentivised to reconsider the need for packaging and, where it is needed, to use reusable and recyclable packaging. This will contribute to climate change mitigation in line with our commitment to comprehensive action on climate change.

Chemicals: Safety

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of divergence of UK and EU chemicals safety regimes on (a) the chemicals value chain and (b) downstream product manufacturers.

Rebecca Pow: Based on our commitment to having control of our own laws, the UK implemented its own independent chemicals regulatory framework, including UK REACH, from 1 January 2021. Now that we have left the EU, we have the freedom to make our own regulatory decisions. We will take action where we believe there is a strong case that there is a risk to human health or the environment that needs to be addressed. To initiate action under UK REACH, the risks, costs, and benefits are assessed from a GB perspective. Defra commissioned an initial evaluation of UK REACH, which was undertaken by an independent contractor. This will be published soon. It concluded it was too early to draw any conclusions on the impact of divergence on the chemical industry and on human health and the environment. These areas will be explored in further stages of the evaluation.

Ministry of Justice

Probation: Birmingham

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders have been relocated to Birmingham to serve their probation in the last 12 months.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of offenders are placed on probation in communities where they have no preexisting links.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential effectiveness of offenders being placed on probation in a city that is different from their supervising probation service.

Damian Hinds: In order to obtain data on the relocation of people on probation, individual case files would need to be reviewed. The information could therefore not be collated without incurring disproportionate cost.His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service provides accommodation directly to some offenders through its Community Accommodation Service: for example, approved premises for high-risk offenders and temporary accommodation for homeless prison leavers. We endeavour to accommodate offenders in an area that would be best for their rehabilitation, usually this is in their local area. However, a range of factors needs to be considered, including but not limited to the protection of victims. It may sometimes be more beneficial for an individual to be placed outside of an area where they have existing links due to their personal circumstances. This can include on occasion both individuals originally from elsewhere being housed in Birmingham, and individuals originally from Birmingham being housed elsewhere.Offenders supervised by probation will normally be allocated to the Probation Delivery Unit local to them. Changes of location during a sentence can be disruptive and potentially impact on risk management and sentence planning and delivery. Changes can also, however, provide an opportunity for refreshing engagement, and the strengths and benefits of any move must also be identified and encouraged. In order to mitigate any risks, case transfers from one probation area to another are planned and managed.

Abortion

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislative proposals to repeal sections (a) 58 and (b) 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

Edward Argar: The Government maintains a neutral stance in terms of changing the criminal law relating to abortion in England and Wales.Any change to the law in this area would be a matter of conscience for individual Parliamentarians rather than for the Government.

Sentencing: Sexual Offences

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has he made of the effectiveness of the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme on sexual offence sentences.

Edward Argar: The Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme provides a valuable way to ensure that sentences for serious crimes, including certain sexual offences, can be challenged if perceived to be unduly lenient. In November 2019, the government extended the scheme to include further sexual offences – such as those involving indecent images of children and abusing a position of trust with a child – stalking, harassment and coercive or controlling behaviour. In 2021, sentences for sexual offences represented over a third of all cases referred to the Court of Appeal.In 2021, 66% of sentences for sexual offences referred by the Attorney General were increased.

Domestic Abuse and Human Trafficking: Prosecutions

Scott Benton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the effectiveness of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 in bringing prosecutions against (a) abusive partners and (b) traffickers who have coerced women into having an abortion.

Edward Argar: It is important that the law protects those who may be coerced into having an abortion. Section 58 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (use of poison or instrument to cause a miscarriage) can be used to prosecute those who coerce a woman to have an abortion. In addition, section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929, which deals with late term abortions in England and Wales, makes it an offence for any person, with intent to destroy the life of a child which is capable of being born alive, to cause the death of that child unless it can be proved that the act was done to preserve the life of the woman.Decisions to prosecute a person for a criminal offence in England and Wales are a matter for the independent CPS, who take into account both the evidence available and whether it is in the public interest to pursue a prosecution under the Code for Crown Prosecutors.

Ministry of Justice: Vodafone Group

Mr David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential (a) security and (b) other effects of the merger between Three and Vodafone on (i) his Department's and (ii) his Department's agencies and bodies' contracts with Vodafone.

Mike Freer: As an open economy, this Government welcomes and encourages investment where it supports the Prime Minister’s goal of boosting UK growth and jobs, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements, and does not compromise our national security. The Government has robust powers under the National Security & Investment Act, which it introduced, to block or impose remedies on transactions that pose a national security risk.As you will appreciate, we cannot comment on specific acquisitions nor the applicability of the National Security and Investment regime.It is the responsibility of Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to assess the impact on consumers and competition in the market, with input from sectoral regulators.The Investment Security Unit works closely with the Competition and Markets Authority on cases that are being considered for both national security and competition reasons. A memorandum of understanding has been agreed between the Investment Security Unit and the CMA to assist joint working: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/operation-of-the-national-security-and-investment-act-2021-memorandum-of-understanding/mou-between-beis-and-the-cma-on-the-operation-of-the-national-security-and-investment-act-2021.The Ministry of Justice does not believe that there will be any effects on the current contracts that it has with Vodafone.

Judges: Training

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Senior Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths report following the Plymouth mass shooting, when she plans to (a) put in place the recommended firearms licensing training for Crown Court judges and (b) ensure that only judges who have undergone this training are authorised to hear appeals against licensing decisions under section 44 of the Firearms Act 1968.

Mike Freer: To preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lord Chief Justice, Senior President of Tribunals and Chief Coroner have statutory responsibility for judicial training, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. These responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College.The Judicial College regularly reviews its training offer to ensure that all judicial office holders receive up-to-date and high-quality training. The judiciary is responsible for determining which judges hear appeals against licensing decisions.The Lord Chief Justice’s response to the Prevention of Future Deaths Report is publicly available and can be accessed here: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023-0085-Response-from-Lord-Chief-Justice-of-England-and-Wales-.pdf.

Ministry of Justice: Data Protection

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure of 14 June 2023 at Topical Questions, T7, Official Report, column 286, what plans his Department has to (a) utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill and (b) use smart data in new sectors.

Mike Freer: There is exciting potential to explore Smart Data in further sectors, beyond Open Banking. Government, regulators and industry experts are working together via the Smart Data Council to ensure that the UK continues to be at the forefront of developments in this space.Before committing to utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No.2) Bill in any given sector, there is work to be done to understand how Smart Data can empower consumers and turbo charge competition, which is the case within my Department.

Prisons: Education

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 May 2023 to Question 183703, Prisons: Education, whether the application of Treasury guidance on the application of Fair Deal Pensions policy will align with the Prison Education Service bidding process key decision milestones.

Damian Hinds: The Ministry of Justice will ensure that the bidding process for the Prisoner Education service applies the HMT guidance on the application of Fair Deal Pensions policy at all stages of the procurement.

Probation Service

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the probation service.

Damian Hinds: The effectiveness of the Probation Service is regularly assessed through internal quality audits and performance metrics. These contribute to a Probation Scorecard which is published annually. The publication of the 2022/23 Probation Scorecard is planned for July 2023.HMPPS internally tracks the effectiveness of performance in the following ways:HMPPS’ independent internal assurance function provides assurance of the quality of probation practice across all probation regions through annual Sentence Management Audits. These highlight strengths in quality of practice, and areas for improvement.All regions have internal Quality Improvement Plans to drive improvements in service delivery. These plans are quality assured centrally by HMPPS’ independent internal assurance function.As part of regional quality work, regions also complete their own assurance of the quality of practice, using a specialised audit tool, which provides a local indication of the effectiveness of Probation practice.Effectiveness is also independently assessed by HMI Probation.

Prisons: Drugs

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons have an operational drug recovery wing.

Damian Hinds: As part of the ambitious cross-Government Drug Strategy, we are rolling out a wide range of interventions to support prisoners off drugs and into recovery. This includes testing a new approach to help prisoners with an opiate dependency achieve abstinence, with 7 abstinence-focused Drug Recovery Wings in operation across the estate. Alongside this, we are increasing the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living units, where prisoners commit to remaining free of illicit drugs with regular drug testing and incentives. We have already doubled the number from 25 last summer to over 50 now, aiming to reach up to 100 by March 2025.

Prisons: Security

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the total number of scanning machines in the prison estate in each year since 2010.

Damian Hinds: We have invested £100m to combat crime in prisons, including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs and mobile phones. This investment delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners, taking the total number installed since 2010 to 98 and providing full coverage across the closed adult male estate. As of October 2022, we had recorded 28,626 positive indications, helping to tackle the supply of drugs into prisons.Prior to 2022 there were multiple routes of procurement for baggage scanners across the prison estate, so we can provide only a partial answer. Since central procurement in 2022 we have installed 74 baggage scanners at 44 high-risk prisons.A full evaluation of our security investments is underway and will be published in 2023.

Home Office

Drugs: Addictions and Misuse

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce rates of spice (a) abuse and (b) addiction.

Chris Philp: Synthetic cannabinoids, including those sold by dealers under the street name ‘Spice’, are dangerous drugs. They are controlled as Class B drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 to give the police the powers they need to take necessary action.The largest dedicated funding stream under the Government’s Drug Strategy is for drug treatment, including treatment for dependence on synthetic cannabinoids, with £780m over the next three years. In addition, the DWP individual placement and support (IPS) scheme helps people with addiction to secure work, and the rough sleeping drug and alcohol treatment grant ensures there is intensive, tailored support for people to address their drug dependence and find stable housing.Under the Government’s Drug Strategy, all areas in England have established dedicated Combating Drugs Partnerships bringing together local leaders across law enforcement, criminal justice, treatment and recovery, and the NHS, to deliver the strategy on the ground. These partnerships will be able to focus efforts on local needs relating to drug use, including where the consumption of potent synthetic cannabinoids is harming individuals and causing a blight on their communities.

Police

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of (a) welfare concern and (b) mental health incident cases attended by police officers in each of the four months (i) before and (ii) after the roll-out of the right care, right person model by North Yorkshire Police; and the number and proportion of those cases in which the police intervened after initial referral to another service under the right care, right person programme.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the impact of the Right Care, Right Person model operated by North Yorkshire Police on (a) service users and (b) engagement with mental health services.

Chris Philp: The Home Office has not made any assessment on the impact of the Right Care, Right Person Model operational approach on service users or engagement with mental health services. The NPCC, CoP and NHSE are working to provide guidance to assist police forces that chose to adopt RCRP principles do so in partnership with local agencies. HMICFRS’s State of Policing Report viewed the implementation of RCRP as a positive step in the report and strongly supported this approach which further builds on the findings made in Humberside’s PEEL inspection report last year. The Policing Productivity Review carried out last year also recommended the adoption of this approach to Chief Constables.The Right Care Right Person (RCRP) approach sets out a threshold to assist police decision making on responding to incidents. The benefits of this are that the police should only be responding to health & social care incidents where there is a clear and immediate risk of serious harm or criminality or where they are needed to exercise their powers under the Mental Health Act. This ensures the public receive the right care from the right person and reduces unnecessary police involvement.This is a model that is based on partnership working, with local police chiefs and health and social care partners working together to understand where the police are filling gaps for other agencies and the route to address this. It will be important for partners to continue to work together, to safely implement the approach.Under RCRP approach the police should work with partners to put in place local plans before withdrawing from attending mental health incidents. People in crisis need to have an appropriate response – normally a health focused one, and where there is no imminent risk to someone’s safety, people in mental health crisis need to be seen by healthcare professionals at the earliest opportunity.

Visas: Migrant Workers

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason prospective NHS staff from overseas have had delays securing visas to work in the UK.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office is not currently experiencing any delays in the processing of Health and Care visas.Current processing times can be found on the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/visa-processing-times-applications-outside-the-uk#popular-work-visas

Home Office: Data Protection

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure of 14 June 2023 at Topical Questions, T7, Official Report, column 286, what plans her Department has to (a) utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill and (b) use smart data in new sectors.

Chris Philp: There is exciting potential to explore Smart Data in further sectors, beyond Open Banking. Government, regulators and industry experts are working together via the Smart Data Council to ensure that the UK continues to be at the forefront of developments in this space.There are no immediate plans for the Home Office to utilise these provisions.Before committing to utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No.2) Bill in any given sector, there is work to be done to understand how Smart Data can empower consumers and turbo charge competition.

Burglary: Crime Prevention

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to reduce the rate of burglaries.

Chris Philp: We welcome the latest Crime Survey for England and Wales data, which shows a 51% per cent fall in the level of domestic burglary when comparing the Crime Survey to year ending December 2022 with the year ending March 2010. This represents a fall from 917,000 incidents to 449,000 incidents. While this is clearly good news, the Government recognises the significant impact invasive crimes such as domestic burglary can have on individuals and the wider community, and we are keen that the number of these crimes is driven even lower.As we made clear in the Beating Crime Plan, evidence-based and targeted interventions, such as the Safer Streets Fund, underpinned by getting the basics in policing right, lies at the heart of our strategy to reduce these crimes.The Safer Streets Fund supports police and local authorities investment in street lighting, home security and other measures, to help prevent crimes such as domestic burglary from happening in the first place.In her open letter to police leaders in September 2022, the Home Secretary made it clear that the public will want to know the police will visit them when a burglary has been committed. We therefore welcome the announcement made by the National Police Chiefs’ Council on the 8 June that all 43 police forces in England and Wales have been implementing this policy since March this year. We are working with police leaders to ensure forces are making their attendance data available to the public. https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/police-now-attending-scene-of-every-home-burglaryTo help ensure the police have the resources they need to fight crime and tackle anti-social behaviour, we have delivered on our commitment to recruit 20,000 additional police officers by the end of March this year.

Firearms Act 1968

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the conclusion of the Senior Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths Report following the Plymouth mass shooting that the Firearms Act 1968 is unfit for purpose, what steps she plans to take to review that Act.

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Senior Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths Report following the Plymouth mass shooting, whether she plans to amend guidance to licensing staff on allegations about the suitability of the applicant to hold a firearms licence, whether yet proven or not.

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Senior Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths Report recommendations following the Plymouth mass shooting, what plans she has to improve the training regime for firearms licensing staff.

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the conclusions of the Senior Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths report following the Plymouth mass shooting, whether she plans to order Chief Constables in England and Wales to carry out an urgent review of cases where a person currently holds a gun which has been returned to them after an earlier refusal or seizure by the police.

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the recommendations of the Senior Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths report following the Plymouth mass shooting, whether she plans to introduce a requirement to place a warning marker on all medical records.

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the conclusion of the Senior Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths report following the Plymouth mass shooting, whether she plans to ensure that firearms licensing fees cover the cost of processing applications.

Chris Philp: We are carefully considering all of the recommendations that the Senior Coroner for Plymouth, Torbay and South Devon made in his Prevention of Future Deaths Reports to the Home Secretary, following the Inquest into the shootings that took place in Keyham, Plymouth on 12August 2021, and will respond to all of the recommendations made to the Department as soon as possible.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May 2023 to Question 184558 on Refugees: Afghanistan, whether people from Afghanistan who arrived in the UK through the (a) Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and (b) Afghan citizens resettlement scheme who are due to leave a bridging hotel before 31 August 2023 and make a homelessness application to a local authority will have access to the Find Your Own Accommodation pathway to secure settled accommodation.

Robert Jenrick: Those applying for the ARAP and ACRS will be able to access the Find Your Own accommodation pathway. Local Authorities will be able to use the funding to secure private rented accommodation for an Afghan household. The government is providing £285 million of new funding to local authorities supporting the Afghan resettlement schemes. This includes £35 million in new cash for local authorities, which will go towards increasing the level of support available and overcoming key barriers in accessing the housing system and employment and a £250 million expansion of the Local Authority Housing Fund to help councils to source homes to house Afghans currently in bridging accommodation.

Home Office: ClearSprings Group

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much money his Department spent on Clear Springs in each year since 2015.

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will provide a breakdown of his Department's spending on their contractor Clear Springs in 2022-23.

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much money her Department paid to it's contractor Clear Springs for asylum accommodation in the London Borough of Brent in each year since 2015.

Robert Jenrick: Our accommodation providers are contractually obliged to provide adequate accommodation and to conduct regular quality assurance checks across the asylum estate. Accommodation providers complete due diligence checks and all accommodation must be statutorily and regulatory compliant before they are selected.

Asylum: Young People

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Immigration of 7 June 2023 on Asylum-seeking Children: Hotel Accommodation, Official Report, column 407WH, if he will provide examples of (a) grey and (b) black economies.

Robert Jenrick: We take the safety of those in our care seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in hotels are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a local authority.Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses. All contingency sites have security staff on site 24/7 and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.As of 05 June, there were 154 young people missing.If any child goes missing, including an accompanied asylum seeking child, the MARS (Missing After Reasonable Steps) protocol is followed. A multi-agency, missing persons meeting is chaired by the local authority to establish the young person's whereabouts and to ensure that they are safe. Similar protocols within police forces have safely reduced the number of missing episodes from placements by 36%.The Home Office continue to work with the police and local authorities to ensure the children in our care are safe. The police are responsible for locating any missing children.The Grey economy includes any economic activity that is legal, but which is unrecorded and unregulated. The Black economy consists of the buying, selling, and producing of goods or services that goes on without the government being informed, so that people can avoid paying tax on them.

Biometric Residence Permits

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a temporary measure to allow new UK citizens to re-enter the UK from overseas travel using their Indefinite Leave to Remain Biometric Residence Permit while they await the issue of a UK adult passport.

Robert Jenrick: There are no plans to allow new UK citizens to use a biometric residence permit (BRP) to enter the UK while they wait for the issue of a UK passport. BRPs can only be held and used by foreign nationals who are subject to immigration control. When they become British citizens the BRP card is cancelled, and holders are required to return their BRP card to UK Visas and Immigration.

Migrants: Health Services

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2023 to Question 188802 on Migrants: Health Services, whether the Government has provided guidance to temporary visa holders who have paid the immigration health surcharge on accessing (a) their local GP and (b) other free NHS medical care.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has published guidance on the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) which highlights when an IHS payer can start using the NHS and what services an IHS payer is required to pay for.The guidance can be found below:Pay for UK healthcare as part of your immigration application: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Provision of healthcare is devolved, guidance on accessing healthcare in each part of the UK is issued by the appropriate Devolved Authority. Guidance on accessing healthcare from GPs in Northern Ireland can be found below:https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/your-local-doctor-gp

Treasury

Revenue and Customs: Staff

Richard Burgon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people worked in HMRC's High Net Worth Unit in (a) 2022-23 and (b) each year since 2009.

Victoria Atkins: HMRC’s Wealthy teams were formed in April 2017, a merger of the previous High Net Worth Unit and Affluent teams. The tax affairs of Wealthy customers can be complex and the staff in HMRC’s Wealthy unit work with teams across HMRC to tackle non- compliance. The below table provides the correct number of FTE staff within the WMBC Wealthy Unit broken down by tax year: FTE staff as at:  31 March 2016 to 20171,0072017 to 20181,0462018 to 20199962019 to 20209532020 to 20218662021 to 20228872022 to 20231,014

Revenue and Customs: Staff

Richard Burgon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people worked in HMRC's Wealthy Team in (a) 2022-23 and (b) each year since its founding.

Victoria Atkins: HMRC’s Wealthy teams were formed in April 2017, a merger of the previous High Net Worth Unit and Affluent teams. The tax affairs of Wealthy customers can be complex and the staff in HMRC’s Wealthy unit work with teams across HMRC to tackle non- compliance. The below table provides the correct number of FTE staff within the WMBC Wealthy Unit broken down by tax year: FTE staff as at:  31 March 2016 to 20171,0072017 to 20181,0462018 to 20199962019 to 20209532020 to 20218662021 to 20228872022 to 20231,014

High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge

Martyn Day: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of families are impacted by the High Income Child Benefit Charge.

Victoria Atkins: In 2020-2021, 88 per cent of Child Benefit claimants were unaffected by High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC). Of the remaining 12 per cent, 355,000 paid (or had a partner who paid) the tax charge, and 624,000 chose to opt out of receiving Child Benefit payments as an alternative to paying the charge. Please see the Child Benefit Statistics available on the GOV.UK website here: Child Benefit Statistics: annual release, data at August 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)High Income Child Benefit Charge - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Mortgages: Northern Ireland

Claire Hanna: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many households in Northern Ireland are on (a) fixed and (b) b) variable rate mortgages.

Andrew Griffith: There is a wide variety of data and statistics about the mortgage market in the UK available from the Bank of England (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics), the Financial Conduct Authority (https://www.fca.org.uk/data) and UK Finance (https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data).

Revenue and Customs: Telephone Services

Darren Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impacts of temporarily closing the Self-Assessment hotline on individuals needing advice prior to submitting information relating to their tax returns.

Victoria Atkins: This quarter is the quietest for Self-Assessment (SA) queries. HMRC is piloting the temporary and time-limited closure of the SA helpline so that c.350 advisers can be moved to other work, including clearing post items, which experience heavier demand at this time of year. The SA helpline will reopen on 4 September, five months prior to the SA filing deadline of 31 January. Around two-thirds of all Self-Assessment calls can be resolved online by customers; piloting a seasonal Self-Assessment helpline is about positively encouraging people to use these services when they can. This will free up HMRC advisors to help those with more urgent queries or who cannot access digital services, and to work on correspondence.

Theatres: Tax Allowances

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of valid claims for Theatre Tax Relief were paid within 28 days of receipt in each month since April 2022.

Victoria Atkins: HMRC aims to pay claims for all tax reliefs as soon as possible. For information relating to valid claims for Theatre Tax Relief paid within 28 days of receipt, I would refer the hon Member to my answer of 30 January to PQ UIN 132309.

Wealth: Taxation

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of taxing people with over £10 million in assets one per cent more and investing that money in the economy and public services.

Victoria Atkins: The UK system is designed to ensure among other things that those with the broadest shoulders pay their fair share on their wealth and assets, with the tax system taxing wealth across many different economic activities, including acquisition, holding, transfer and disposal of assets and income derived from assets.

Business: Energy

Mark Pawsey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support (a) hospitality, (b) public house and (c) other businesses with energy prices.

Gareth Davies: The Government remains committed to supporting the whole business sector including hospitality, public houses and other businesses. The Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) provides all eligible businesses and other non-domestic energy users with a discount on high energy bills for 12 months from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2024. It also provides businesses in sectors with particularly high levels of energy use and trade intensity with a higher level of support. Wholesale gas prices have now fallen to levels before Putin’s invasion. The new EBDS therefore strikes a balance between supporting businesses for a further 12 months and limiting taxpayer’s exposure to volatile energy markets. This provides long term certainty for businesses and reflects how the scale of the challenge has changed since September last year. The government has had to make some difficult decisions this Budget to maintain economic stability and secure the public finances. The government has provided a series of cuts and freezes on alcohol duties in the past decade. The most recent freeze from Autumn Budget 2021, including the extension to 1 August 2023, represents a total tax cut of £2.7 billion over the next 4 years. Whilst we are raising rates by RPI, we have increased the value of Draught Relief to support pubs, meaning a pint of draught beer sold in a pub will not pay more duty from August. We have provided extensive support to the hospitality and tourism sector through an over £8 billion reduction in VAT during the pandemic, and are also increasing and extending business rates support with a tax cut worth over £2 billion in 2023-24 for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. This will support around 230,000 businesses, including pubs, with 75 per cent relief off their business rates bill, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. Pubs will also benefit from the freeze to the business rates multiplier for 2023-24, a tax cut worth £9.3 billion over the next 5 years, meaning all bills are 6% lower than without the freeze.

Inflation

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the main causes of the level of inflation.

Andrew Griffith: High inflation is the greatest immediate economic challenge that we must address. That is why the Government has made it a priority to halve inflation this year, and we will not hesitate in our resolve to support the Bank of England as it takes action to return inflation to the 2% target. We are on track to do this: the majority of major forecasters agree in forecasting inflation to halve by the end of the year and subsequently return to target.

Plastics: Taxation

Ruth Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to publish the consultation on mass balance and calculating recycled content within the Plastic Packaging Tax before 20 July 2023.

Gareth Davies: To signal support for the developing chemical recycling sector, at Tax Administration and Maintenance Day the government announced a consultation on allowing a mass balance approach for calculating recycled content in packaging made from chemically recycled plastic, for the purposes of the Plastic Packaging Tax. The government also confirmed the consultation would be published this year and will provide further information in due course. The government is committed to developing an approach which supports the commercialisation of the UK chemical recycling sector, whilst maintaining the integrity and supporting the objectives of the Plastic Packaging Tax.

Mortgages

Claire Hanna: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will hold discussions with mortgage lenders on providing flexibility to people who will find it difficult to afford mortgage repayments following the recent rises in interest rates.

Andrew Griffith: On Friday 23 June the Chancellor met with the largest mortgage lenders, UK Finance and the Financial Conduct Authority to discuss a new package of support for those who encounter problems keeping up with their mortgage payments. These commitments include an agreement permitting customers to switch to an interest only mortgage, or extend their mortgage term, for 6 months, after which they can switch back without a new affordability check or it affecting their credit score. Lenders also agreed borrowers won’t have their home repossessed within 12 months from their first missed payment without their consent or unless in exceptional circumstances. Borrowers coming to the end of their deal will be able to lock in a new rate up to six months in advance of their deal coming to an end, and apply for a better rate if one becomes available.  This is in addition to the measures the Government has already taken aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans, and protection in the courts through the Pre-Action Protocol.

Prisons: Education

Grahame Morris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answers of 11 May 2023 to Question 183809 on Prisons: Education and of 10 May 2023 to Question 183703 on Prisons: Education, what steps his Department is taking to clarify the application of the New Fair Deal pensions policy on Prison Education Service contracts.

John Glen: Following the ONS reclassification of FE colleges as public sector bodies, HM Treasury is reviewing the New Fair Deal policy in relation to Further Education colleges, including those involved in the Prison Education Service.

Voluntary Contributions

Matt Vickers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to reduce the backlog of voluntary National Insurance contributions.

Matt Vickers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to improve the process for people making voluntary National Insurance contributions.

Victoria Atkins: HMRC has worked with Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to agree upon a further extension to the 31 July 2023 deadline up to April 2025 (freezing the payment rates) giving customers more time to contact both DWP and HMRC. In addition, since April 2023 HMRC has deployed an additional 254 colleagues into National Insurance (NI) voluntary contributions work due to the increased levels of customer contact. HMRC is also working on a digital solution across both departments to allow customers to pay voluntary NI contributions online. Please see the GOV.UK Website here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deadline-for-voluntary-national-insurance-contributions-extended-to-april-2025 for more detail on the extension as well as how people should check whether they can and should make any such contributions.

Cabinet Office

Emergencies: Mobile Phones

Matt Vickers: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the emergency alert system is used for life and death situations only.

Jeremy Quin: For an emergency alert to be issued, a major incident must pose a risk to life. Risks to health or property will not be considered reasonable use. Members of the resilience community who may need to request an alert have been informed of this threshold. Releasing an alert will require a request from the lead government department to the Cabinet Office National Situation Centre watchkeeper, and then approval by a Cabinet Office Duty Director. Where an alert is likely to be received by 1 million people or more, it must also receive ministerial approval. This system ensures that the Cabinet Office will only send emergency alerts when there is an imminent threat to life.

Disease Control and Emergencies: Ministers

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister plans to appoint a Minister for pandemic and disaster preparedness.

Jeremy Quin: My right Hon. friend the Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for the oversight of civil contingencies & resilience. The government has a well-established method of planning for risks through the lead government department model, with the Cabinet Office supporting in its convening role. Risks such as pandemics, which have significant cross-cutting impacts, have cross-government governance - with Ministerial oversight through National Security Council (Resilience) where required. The government has set out its overarching approach to this through the Resilience Framework.

Infected Blood Inquiry

Wayne David: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he has taken with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to implement the recommendations of the second interim report of the Infected Blood Inquiry, published on 5 April 2023.

Jeremy Quin: I would like to refer the Honourable member to the debate on Thursday 22nd June, where I updated Parliament on the Government’s progress on this important issue. In this update, I shared that part of this work includes chairing a Small Ministerial Group (SMG) to enable in-depth discussion about the Government response to the Infected Blood Inquiry’s second interim report and HM Treasury is represented at this group. The SMG is an important forum to work through the recommendations and drive forward the Government’s response to the anticipated Infected Blood Inquiry Final Report.

Cabinet Office: Data Protection

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure of 14 June 2023 at Topical Questions, T7, Official Report, column 286, what plans his Department has to (a) utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill and (b) use smart data in new sectors.

Alex Burghart: There is exciting potential to explore Smart Data in further sectors, beyond Open Banking. Government, regulators and industry experts are working together via the Smart Data Council to ensure that the UK continues to be at the forefront of developments in this space. This Bill is sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Before committing to utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No.2) Bill in any given sector, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is working to understand how Smart Data can empower consumers and turbo charge competition.

Three: Vodafone Group

Emma Hardy: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed merger between Vodafone-Three on national security.

Kim Johnson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the potential security implications of the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: As an open economy, we welcome investment where it supports UK growth and jobs, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements, and does not compromise our national security. The Government has robust powers under the National Security & Investment Act to block or impose remedies on transactions that pose a national security risk. As you will appreciate, we cannot comment on specific acquisitions nor the applicability of the National Security and Investment regime.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Innovate UK

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer to Question 189253 on Innovate UK published on 21 June 2023, what the total annual value of grants will be for the Begin and Build programme; and what sums were granted by (a) Women in Innovation and (b) Young Innovators in each of the last three years for which data are available.

George Freeman: Innovate UK, is investing up to £6 million though 225 separate awards comprising the Begin and Build strands of Diverse Innovators Award. Applications for this competition open on 10 July 2023, and it is designed to deliver increased impact by widening the doors to invite a wider range of under-represented innovators with great ideas to engage with Innovate UK as they start and build their businesses. The specific sums granted were:For Women in Innovation, £2m in 2020 and 2021 and increasing to £2.5m in 2022.For Young Innovators, £1.59m in 2020 and 2021 and increasing to £2.4m in 2022.

Digital Technology: Coventry

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to tackle digital exclusion in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.

Paul Scully: The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is responsible for coordinating HM Government’s digital inclusion policy, and aims to ensure that as many people as possible across the whole of the UK, no matter their age or background, can overcome the barriers of digital inclusion and make the most of digital opportunities. This includes people in Coventry North East and Coventry.For example, the Government is working to remove barriers and ensure that online services are as inclusive as possible by making public sector websites accessible to as many people as possible. The accessibility regulations ensure that websites and mobile apps are designed to be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Furthermore, assisted digital support services aim to increase digital inclusion for those online users who lack digital confidence, digital skills or access to the internet.Additionally, to support low-income households DSIT has negotiated a range of high-quality, low-cost broadband and mobile social tariffs for households in receipt of Universal Credit and other means tested benefits. Mobile and broadband social tariffs are available in 99% of the UK, from a range of providers including, BT, Virgin Media, Sky and Vodafone from as little as £10 per month.

Tiktok: Children

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has had recent discussions with representatives from Tiktok on enforcing age restrictions on its platform for children under the age of 13.

Paul Scully: Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with social media platforms, such as TikTok, to discuss a range of issues relating to online safety. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.Under the Online Safety Bill, services which are likely to be accessed by children, such as TikTok, will be required to provide safety measures for children to protect them from inappropriate and harmful content or activity. Providers which have age restrictions will be required to specify in their terms of service what measures they use to prevent underage access and apply these terms consistently. This will mean providers can be held to account for what they say in their terms of service, and can no longer do nothing to prevent underage access.Ahead of the Bill, video-sharing platform (VSP) providers currently regulated by the VSP regime, including Tiktok, are required to take ‘appropriate measures’ to protect under-18s from potentially harmful material. Appropriate measures could include, but are not limited to, age assurance, parental controls, and comprehensive terms and conditions.

Social Media: Children

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to help prevent children accessing inappropriate material on social media.

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to prevent children from accessing potentially harmful content online.

Paul Scully: Protecting children is at the heart of the Government’s Online Safety Bill. All companies in scope will need to take robust steps to protect children from illegal content and criminal behaviour on their services. In addition, services which are likely to be accessed by children, which will include social media platforms, will be required to provide safety measures for child users to protect them from inappropriate and harmful content or activity, such as pornography, bullying and content that promotes or glorifies self-harm, suicide and eating disorders. If they fail to do so, they will be subject to tough enforcement action by the regulator, Ofcom.Ahead of the Online Safety Bill, video-sharing platform (VSP) providers currently regulated by the VSP regime are required to take ‘appropriate measures’ to protect under-18s from potentially harmful material. Appropriate measures could include, but are not limited to, age assurance, parental controls, and comprehensive terms and conditions.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Independent Review into Civil Unrest in Leicester

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with (a) Leicester City Council and (b) the Mayor of Leicester on (i) the independent review into civil unrest in Leicester in 2022 and (b) the appointment of Lord Ian Austin as Chair of that review.

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the appointment of Lord Ian Austin to lead the independent review into civil unrest in Leicester in 2022 was (a) first discussed with and (b) confirmed to (i) Leicester City Council and (ii) the Mayor of Leicester.

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he has taken to ensure the impartiality of the Independent review into civil unrest in Leicester in 2022 by Lord Austin in the context of maintaining public confidence in that review.

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans for the Independent review into civil unrest in Leicester in 2023 to include an assessment of the potential role of fake accounts from (a) foreign governments, (b) political groups and (c) online actors in the unrest.

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans for the independent review into civil unrest in Leicester in 2023 to include an assessment of the potential role of extremist groups in the unrest.

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans for the independent review into civil unrest in Leicester in 2023 to include an assessment of the potential impact of (a) poverty levels and (b) levels of investment in Leicester on the unrest.

Lee Rowley: The review into the 2022 unrest in Leicester is independent, subject to the Terms of Reference, which will be made available once the remaining panel members have been appointed. In brief, the review will:establish the facts of what took place over the period of unrest;present an analysis of the causes of the unrest;make recommendations for preventing similar events arising in future; andset out proposals and ideas for strengthening social cohesion locally.As an independent review, the exact avenues of investigation and assessment will for the panel to determine. The review seeks to strengthen community cohesion in the city; the independent experts will hear from a wide range of people and voices from across the city and beyond, and they will take steps to ensure that all communities are fairly represented and heard.

Buildings: Fire Prevention

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to intervene to prevent insurers from mandating expensive building safety remediation work beyond the scope recommended by fire risk assessments.

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with representatives of the insurance sector on the extent to which insurers are requesting that remediation work is carried out on properties of less than 11 metres; and whether he plans to take steps to prevent those requests being made without reasonable justification.

Lee Rowley: Where an external wall assessment carried out in line with guidance from the British Standards Institute (PAS 9980) shows acceptable risk, premiums should reflect that. Insurers should offer affordable premiums and should not be prescribing additional remedial works. The department is engaging with insurers on this matter.It is generally accepted that risk to life is proportional to the height of buildings. There is no systemic risk in buildings under 11m, which are very unlikely to need costly remediation to make them safe.

Public Lavatories

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Written Statement HCWS172 of 4 July 2022 on Building Regulations, when his Department plans to issue a technical consultation on the provision of toilets.

Lee Rowley: I refer my Hon. Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 83564 on 17 November 2022. Preparatory work on a technical consultation on the provision of toilets is underway, with a view to publication later this summer.

Buildings: Fire Prevention

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of leaseholders in buildings of less than eleven metres who have been issued with costly bills for non-cladding fire remediation.

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to ensure developers take responsibility for remedying fire safety defects in blocks of under eleven metres which they have built.

Lee Rowley: The Government has implemented a risk-based and proportionate approach to regulating safety in residential buildings and in remediating cladding and other building safety defects. In general, the risk to life in lower-rise buildings is low and can be mitigated, for example, by installing fire alarms.We are aware of a very small number of buildings under 11 metres where expensive remediation has been suggested. We have written to freeholders and managing agents in affected buildings to make sure that any proposed works are necessary and proportionate and the rights to redress are being fully utilised.The Government has retrospectively extended the limitation period under Section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 enabling legal action against developers and contractors where works completed in the last 30 years made a dwelling not 'fit for habitation'. This extends to buildings under 11 metres.Any leaseholders concerned about works being proposed in their building can seek free information and advice from The Leasehold Advisory Service, funded by the Department.

Elections: Proof of Identity

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which forms of photo ID that are issued by Government are eligible for use at polling stations.

Dehenna Davison: This information is set out in the Elections Act 2022.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Data Protection

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure of 14 June 2023 at Topical Questions, T7, Official Report, column 286, what plans his Department has to (a) utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill and (b) use smart data in new sectors.

Dehenna Davison: There is exciting potential to explore Smart Data in further sectors, beyond Open Banking. Government, regulators and industry experts are working together via the Smart Data Council to ensure that the UK continues to be at the forefront of developments in this space, and any announcements will be made in the usual way.

Leasehold: Insurance

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to support leaseholders who are facing higher insurance premiums due to commission charged by insurance brokers to managing agents and landlords.

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to introduce a cap on the commissions that can be made from insurance premiums on leasehold properties.

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will introduce proposals to help (a) protect leaseholders who reside in mixed use residential-commercial buildings from facing disproportionate shares of the total insurance costs of the building and (b) ensure that commercial entities in mixed use buildings contribute a proportionate percentage to the total insurance premium of a building.

Rachel Maclean: The Secretary of State has previously announced that the Government intends to ban insurance brokers from sharing commissions with managing agents, landlords and freeholders. In parallel, we are working with industry to ensure charges can be justified based on work undertaken. Questions regarding the regulation of insurance brokers' commissions should be directed to the Financial Conduct Authority.Individual leases set out what service charges pay for and the proportion of the charge that each leaseholder is required to pay. We are committed to protecting and empowering leaseholders by giving them more information on the things for which their service charges pay, and ensuring service charges are transparent and communicated effectively, removing barriers to challenge when things go wrong. This will help leaseholders more effectively challenge their landlord if they consider their fees are unreasonable. We are also planning reforms to prevent unjustified legal fees when challenging costs.

Social Rented Housing

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps he has taken to help ensure there is an adequate supply of new social housing.

Rachel Maclean: The Affordable Homes Programme funds a variety of affordable and social housing. It funds traditional social housing, through social rent and affordable rent, alongside affordable home ownership options, like Shared Ownership.The provision of affordable housing is part of the Government's plan to build more homes and provide aspiring homeowners with a step onto the housing ladder.Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes for both rent and to buy right across the country. The Levelling Up White Paper committed to increasing the supply of social rented homes and a large number of the new homes delivered through our Affordable Homes Programme will be for social rent.Since 2010, we have delivered over 659,500 new affordable homes, including over 458,700 affordable homes for rent, of which over 166,300 homes for social rent.

Levelling Up Partnerships

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to provide additional funding to places identified for a Levelling Up Partnership.

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of when the Levelling Up Partnerships will be formed in each of the areas selected for the scheme.

Dehenna Davison: I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Statement made on 16th March 2023, UIN HCWS641, by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State.

Freeports: Northern Ireland

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to announce the location of a freeport in Northern Ireland.

Dehenna Davison: The Government has agreed and announced freeports with the Scottish and Welsh Governments and had previously engaged with the Northern Ireland Executive on this issue. However, given the absence of a functioning Northern Ireland Executive since February 2022, it is not possible to take this any further forward. The Government looks forward to pursuing further discussions with a restored Executive on extending the benefits of the freeports programme across the UK.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Israel: Lebanon

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of reports that rockets were fired from Lebannon into Israel in April 2023.

David Rutley: The UK Government condemned the indiscriminate rocket attacks from southern Lebanon and Gaza at the time they took place. There is no change in UK policy: the UK remains resolute in its commitment to Israel's security and recognises Israel's right to self-defence. We urge all sides to avoid taking actions which make peace more difficult to achieve.

Saudi Arabia: Capital Punishment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment has he made of the implications for his policies of recent reports that Saudi Arabia carried out an execution during Ramadan.

David Rutley: Saudi Arabia remains a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office human rights priority country, in part because of the increased use of the death penalty. Saudi Arabia is well aware of the UK's opposition to the death penalty in all countries and in all circumstances, as a matter of principle. We regularly raise the death penalty with the Saudi authorities through diplomatic channels, including at Ministerial level.

West Bank: Palestinians

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the (a) Israeli Defence Force operation and (b) reported use of a helicopter gunship in Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on Monday 19 June; and whether he has had recent discussions with (i) his counterparts in the Israeli Government and (ii) the Israeli Ambassador to the UK on this matter.

David Rutley: We regularly raise the issue of the numbers of Palestinians killed and injured by Israeli Security Forces in the West Bank with the Israeli authorities. Israel has a right to self-defence, but it is vital that Israel's security operations are in line with international humanitarian law, including the principles of proportionality, distinction and necessity. When there are accusations of excessive use of force, we urge Israeli authorities to carry out swift, transparent and thorough investigations and, if wrongdoing is found, that those responsible be held to account.

Kenya: Africa Climate Summit

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his (a) Kenyan counterpart and (b) other African counterparts on the Africa Climate Summit in September 2023.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Sub-Saharan African countries are amongst the least responsible for causing climate change, yet it is having a devastating impact. The UK is committed to working with African partners to drive long-term climate action and the Foreign Secretary discussed climate change when he visited Kenya in December last year, where he saw how the UK's support is helping to grow Kenya's green economy.The UK will take part in the Africa Climate Summit in September and will engage with our partners in the lead up to and at the Summit. I [Andrew Mitchell] have also discussed the Africa Climate Summit with my Kenyan counterparts during my visit in April this year.

East Africa: Humanitarian Aid

Ms Anum Qaisar: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department's publication entitled UK pledges support for over a million people in East Africa, published on 24 May 2023, what recent steps he has taken to ensure humanitarian support is being delivered through local actors.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) play an important role in delivering UK funded humanitarian support in East Africa and beyond. We work and consult closely with local NGOs to aid their planning, delivery and ability to access funding.In Ethiopia in 2022 the UK provided £7.6 million to the UN's Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund (EHF) which supported a range of international and national NGOs. Similarly, the UK-funded 'Building Resilient Communities in Somalia' programme has supported a number of local NGOs alongside international civil society organisations. More broadly, the UK funds a number of Country based Pooled Funds (CBPF) and in 2022, nearly 22 percent of funding allocated by CBPFs went directly to national NGOs.

Undocumented Migrants

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps he has taken with Cabinet colleagues to help secure international (a) partnerships and (b) other agreements that help tackle illegal immigration to the UK.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: We are prioritising international engagement to secure more ambitious partnerships to tackle irregular migration and destroy the business model of organised immigration crime. These include a multi-year operational funding plan with France, a new UK-Italy strategic migration partnership and deepening cooperation with Albania. We have recently announced a new partnership with Bulgaria, as well as negotiations on a new working arrangement between the UK and EU border agency Frontex.We are also prioritising engagement on migration through multilateral fora, including most recently at the Council of Europe and European Political Community summits.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Rwanda

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has (a) current and (b) former personal interests in Rwanda.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: All personal interests (current and former) of the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, as for all MPs, are recorded in the register of interests. This register is publicly available.

Ethiopia: Peace Negotiations

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the transitional justice process implemented in Ethiopia following the Pretoria peace agreement; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The Foreign Secretary welcomed the November 2022 peace agreement between the Ethiopian Government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, when he visited Ethiopia in December. We further welcomed the commitment in the peace agreement to create a comprehensive national transitional justice policy which we hope will be shared with the international community later this year. In parallel, we are providing £4.5 million to help build the capacity of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission through the UK's Human Rights and Peacebuilding programme, including to enhance its investigative capacity and improve the availability and accessibility of services for survivors of gender-based violence.

Nigeria: Blasphemy

Neale Hanvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations he has received on the law on blasphemy in Nigeria.

Neale Hanvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made representations to the Government of Nigeria on (a) the matter of individuals with minority beliefs receiving the death penalty for blasphemy and (b) the case of Yahaya Sharif-Aminu.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Defending Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for all is a human rights priority for the UK and a constitutional commitment of the Nigerian Government. The UK strongly opposes capital punishment in all circumstances and regularly raises blasphemy and death penalty cases with our partners. The British High Commission raises human rights issues, including FoRB, regularly with Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Officials raised Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, and other blasphemy cases, with the Executive Secretary of the NHRC in April 2023. The UK's Special Envoy for FoRB wrote to the governor of Kano State to raise concern about Sharif-Aminu's sentencing under the state's penal code in December 2022. She will follow up on this with the new governor.

Ukraine: International Red Cross and United Nations

Bob Seely: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his Russian counterparts on allowing the Red Cross and UN to have access to flooded areas in the Kherson region.

Leo Docherty: The destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam has had major humanitarian consequences for Ukrainian citizens living in the vicinity and beyond. The UK's humanitarian commitment to Ukraine and the region stands at £347 million, including £16 million pledged on 10 June to help aid partners such as the Ukraine Red Cross evacuate civilians affected by the flooding. Our aid partners stand ready to respond on the left bank in Russian-held territory, but Russia has not facilitated access or provided security guarantees. Without these, they cannot safely operate. We call all parties to respect International Humanitarian Law; giving aid workers rapid, unimpeded access and allowing vulnerable communities access to vital humanitarian assistance.

Prime Minister: Trade Promotion

Sir Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which of the Prime Minister's (a) Trade and (b) Special Envoys have been provided with (i) office space and (ii) residential accommodation since December 2019.

David Rutley: The Prime Minister's Trade Envoys are a network of appointed parliamentarians, drawn from both Houses and across the political spectrum. Special Envoys are officials of the Government.Both the Prime Minister's Trade and Special Envoys are based in the UK and travel if needed. They are not allocated residential accommodation, either in the UK or overseas. The Trade Envoys are not provided with offices in the UK. FCDO Special Envoys have access to two shared offices in the FCDO in King Charles Street. They can book these on the occasions they wish to use them.

Department for Education

Children in Care

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to protect looked after children living in privately-run children's homes from been moved from their homes (a) at short notice and (b) at short notice in the event of a home's closure in cases other than necessary to safeguard and promote the welfare of affected children.

Claire Coutinho: The department recognises the impact that unplanned short notice moves can have on looked after children. Both the Independent Care Review and the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) report made recommendations around the commissioning of care placements. In Stable Homes, Built on Love, the department set out our response to these reports and our plans to transform children’s social care. The Children’s social care Stable Homes, Built On Love consultation can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1147317/Children_s_social_care_stable_homes_consultation_February_2023.pdf.To support local authorities to meet their statutory duty to ensure there is sufficient provision for children in their care, the department has announced £259 million capital funding to maintain capacity and expand provision in both secure and open children’s homes that provide high-quality and safe homes for some of our most vulnerable children and young people across England.To ensure the resilience of both independent fostering agencies and children’s homes providers, we are working with Ofsted and the sector to develop plans for a financial oversight regime to increase transparency and prevent sudden market exit which would disrupt the lives of children living there.As announced in Stable Homes, Built on Love, the department is also investing up to £10 million to develop Regional Care Co-Operatives (RCCs) in two pathfinder areas to plan, commission and deliver children’s social care placements. RCCs will be able to develop a wide range of placements to meet children’s needs better. This, in turn, should lead to improved placements stability.We recognise that recruiting staff with the right skills and retaining staff is a challenge for the residential childcare sector.Stable Homes, Built on Love is clear that we are exploring the Care Review’s recommendations for supporting the children’s homes workforce, namely through a leadership programme to recruit new talent to the sector and the professional registration of the workforce.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Housing

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the rectification plans agreed with private providers and contractors in respect of quality and repairs of defence accommodation.

James Cartlidge: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my predecessor (Alex Chalk) gave on 18 January 2023 to Question 119895 to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey).Armed Forces: Housing (docx, 22.2KB)

Ministry of Defence: Data Protection

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure of 14 June 2023 at Topical Questions, T7, Official Report, column 286, what plans his Department has to (a) utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill and (b) use smart data in new sectors.

James Cartlidge: There is exciting potential to explore Smart Data in further sectors, beyond Open Banking. Government, regulators and industry experts are working together via the Smart Data Council to ensure that the UK continues to be at the forefront of developments in this space. Before committing to utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No.2) Bill in any given sector, there is work to be done to understand how Smart Data can empower consumers and turbo charge competition. More generally, the Ministry of Defence continues to drive the delivery and realisation of both its Digital Strategy for Defence and Data Strategy for Defence, while aligning with wider Government policy on data-sharing and interoperability.

LGBT Veterans Independent Review

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the Government plans to publish its response to the LGBT Veterans Independent Review; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence and the Office for Veterans' Affairs jointly commissioned the independent review to better understand the impacts and implications of the pre-2000 policy relating to LGBT people serving in HM Armed Forces. The review underlines Defence's unwavering commitment to understanding how best to support its veteran and LGBT community. Lord Etherton recently concluded his independent review and submitted his report and recommendations to the Secretary of State for Defence and the Minister for Veterans' Affairs in the Cabinet Office. The Government will now consider the report and recommendations and decide which Departments are best placed to take action. Defence is committed to publishing the report and responding in full in due course after giving the report due consideration, as per the terms of reference.

Defence Privilege Card

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the rollout of the Defence Discount Card.

Dr Andrew Murrison: Launched in 2012, the Defence Discount Service (DDS) is the official Ministry of Defence (MOD) discount service for the UK’s Armed Forces, veterans, and defence community. With over 650,000 members, the DDS is partnered with over 9,000 brands, providing savings, benefits, and discounts. Its members can access discounts for free online through the DDS website, saving them thousands on holidays, cars, days out, fashion, gifts, electronics and more. In addition, a Defence Privilege Card can also be purchased for £4.99 for access to discounts on the high street in stores, restaurants and venues, and is valid for five years. The DDS is open to Regular serving members of the Armed Forces; Reserve forces; Armed Forces’ veterans; MOD Civil Servants; Cadet Forces (aged 16+) and adult instructors; spouses and partners of serving personnel; bereaved family members; war and service widow(er)s and NATO personnel serving in the UK. Membership is up year on year, as is the number of offers available. In the last Financial Year alone, the DDS has recruited over 65,000 brand new members, plus over 28,000 members have gone on to renew their Defence Privilege Cards for a further five years. More information on who qualifies and the offers available can be found at the DDS website: www.defencediscountservice.co.uk

LGBT Veterans Independent Review

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to publish the LGBT Veterans Independent Review.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence and the Office for Veterans' Affairs jointly commissioned the independent review to better understand the impacts and implications of the pre-2000 policy relating to LGBT people serving in HM Armed Forces. The review underlines Defence's unwavering commitment to understanding how best to support its veteran and LGBT community. Lord Etherton recently concluded his independent review and submitted his report and recommendations to the Secretary of State for Defence and the Minister for Veterans' Affairs in the Cabinet Office. The Government will now consider the report and recommendations and decide which Departments are best placed to take action. Defence is committed to publishing the report and responding in full in due course after giving the report due consideration, as per the terms of reference.

Aviation: Fuels

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of tendering sustainable aviation fuel contracts to help support UK production of sustainable aviation fuel.

James Cartlidge: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is working with the Department for Transport (DfT) to understand opportunities for Defence to support the UK Jet Zero Strategy. As a baseline, MOD procurement of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) will be led by the DfT SAF Mandate which intends to introduce a minimum percentage of sustainably derived fuel into aviation fuel sales from 2025, increasing to 10% by 2030, and continuing to increase beyond that point. The MOD is already seeking to procure SAF earlier than 2025, ahead of the mandate, in order to play its part in the migration towards a zero-carbon economy, including the desire to help create a domestic demand.

Armed Forces: Housing

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much compensation has been paid to service families by Future Defence Infrastructure Services contractors for poor quality accommodation and missed appointments.

James Cartlidge: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 June 2023 to question 189073 to the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan).Armed Forces: Housing (docx, 22.4KB)

Ministry of Defence: Vodafone Group

Kim Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential security implications of the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three.

James Cartlidge: As an open economy, this Government welcomes and encourages investment where it supports the Prime Minister’s goal of boosting UK growth and jobs, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements, and does not compromise our national security. We cannot comment on specific acquisitions nor the applicability of the National Security and Investment regime.

Armed Forces: Housing

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to oral contribution of 19 June by the Minister for Defence People, Veterans and Service Families, Official Report, column 671, how many deductions of what value have been made for failure to deliver parts of the contracts for military housing.

James Cartlidge: The Department has exercised to the fullest extent its contractual rights to withhold fixed and variable profit for areas where suppliers have failed to meet Acceptable Levels of Performance. Information regarding the specific amount is being withheld and cannot be provided, as its disclosure would be likely to prejudice commercial interests.

Veterans: Identity Cards

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the rollout of the Veterans ID card.

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of eligible people have received a Veterans ID card.

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans ID cards have been issued since the start of that scheme.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 June 2023 to Question 189888 to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Kim Johnson).Veterans: Identity Cards (docx, 22.5KB)

Scotland Office

Culture and Trade Promotion: Scotland

Deidre Brock: To ask the secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) the Scottish Government on promoting Scottish trade and culture overseas.

Mr Alister Jack: The UK Government is committed to the promotion of Scottish trade and culture overseas, and our network of 280 diplomatic missions serves the whole of the UK with opportunities.I recently appeared before the Scottish Affairs Committee, along with Ministerial colleagues, to outline the UK’s work in this space in detail. This includes the work of the new Trade Minister in DBT, Lord Offord of Garvel, who will continue to promote Scotland and Scottish business and cultural interests overseas.

United Kingdom

Ian Levy: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of the Union.

Mr Alister Jack: My assessment is that our United Kingdom, and support for it, is strong.This Government is delivering on issues that actually matter to people - from Levelling Up investment to tackling the cost of living, and working with the Scottish Government on delivering Freeports, Investment Zones and City & Region Growth Deals.

Department for Transport

India: Aviation

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will renegotiate the Air Services Agreement with India to increase the number of flights flown from UK airports to (a) India b) regional airports in India and (c) Gujarat; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many non-UK air carriers  (a) in total and (b) based in India hold a foreign carriers licence; and if he will make a statement?

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on how many flights (a) in total and (b) to Gujarat made were made from each airport in the UK by airport in (i) 2020/21, (ii) 2021/22 and (iii) 2022/23; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: Air services between the UK and India are subject to the UK-India Air Services Agreement (ASA – a bilateral treaty that determines who can fly where and when). The ASA allows a wide range of “traffic rights” between our two countries and additional frequencies were recently agreed following bilateral negotiations in New Delhi. There are very few remaining restrictions on air services between UK regional airports and points in India and, for example, there are no restrictions on air services by UK or Indian airlines between points in the UK and Gujarat. However, whether or not to operate is a commercial decision for airlines. Under the terms of the ASA, both Parties are able to designate airlines to operate direct scheduled services between the UK and India. Currently two Indian airlines have been formally designated by the Indian authorities to operate such services and hold Foreign Carrier Permits issued by the UK CAA. Data on commercial flight operations is collected and published by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The total number of commercial flights operated at each airport in the UK between April 2020 and March 2023 is available from Table 6 of monthly CAA UK airport data: https://www.caa.co.uk/data-and-analysis/uk-aviation-market/airports/uk-airport-data/. The total number of commercial flights operated from UK airports to airports in each destination country including India between April 2020 and March 2023 is available from the “Full Analysis Arrival Departure” tables of monthly CAA flight punctuality statistics: https://www.caa.co.uk/data-and-analysis/uk-aviation-market/flight-punctuality/uk-flight-punctuality-statistics/.

Manchester Airport: India

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of future trends in the level of demand for flights to India from Manchester Airport; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: DfT officials hold regular discussions with airlines, airports and international partners, including India, to facilitate global connectivity. Routes operated, and the flights on those routes, are a commercial decision made freely by airlines not by the Government. As this is a commercial decision, the DfT has not undertaken any assessment on future trends in the level of demand for flights to India from Manchester Airport.

Department for Transport: Data Protection

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure of 14 June 2023 at Topical Questions, T7, Official Report, column 286, what plans his Department has to (a) utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill and (b) use smart data in new sectors.

Jesse Norman: The Department has no current plans to make use of this legislation but will continue to keep it under review.

Airports: Standards

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will establish a standing resilience forum of stakeholders to assess the risks to airport travel disruption from (a) adverse weather, (b) pandemic restrictions, (c) industrial action, (d) air traffic control situations and (e) other causes..

Jesse Norman: The Department understands the important role that resilience plays in the aviation sector and continues to encourage the sector to work together on this. The Department’s officials and ministers are working closely with the aviation industry on a host of resilience topics to ensure that the UK Government and the UK aviation sector are adequately prepared to meet challenges should they arise. However, it is ultimately the responsibility of industry to ensure adequate preparations are in place, with the Government supporting where appropriate. The aviation industry has a wide range of well-established resilience forums, chaired and attended by all parts of the aviation industry, as well as the Department for Transport and where appropriate other government departments. Where appropriate the Department supports industry but ultimately it is for industry to build resilience into their organisation and as an eco-system.

Bicycles and Walking: Urban Areas

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether it is still his Department's policy that half of all journeys in towns and cities will be cycled or walked by 2030.

Jesse Norman: Yes.

Bicycles and Walking

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on meeting the targets set out in the cycling and walking plan for England, published on 27 July 2020.

Jesse Norman: The Government’s most recent assessment of progress against these and other targets was set out in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy report to Parliament in July 2022, a copy of which is available in the House Libraries. One of the targets in the 2020 Cycling and Walking Plan for England was for 50% of all journeys in towns and cities to be walked or cycled by 2030. On this, the 2022 report notes that the percentage is currently forecast to be between 41-47% by 2030, but that it could be higher depending on various uncertainties. The percentage rose to 48% in 2020, but this may have been an anomaly as part of the impact of the pandemic.

High Speed 2 Line: South Northamptonshire

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department plans to respond to the actions raised as result of the Minister for Rail and HS2's visit to South Northamptonshire on 4 April 2023.

Huw Merriman: I have written a response to the Right Honourable Lady, the Member for South Northamptonshire, which she has now received, with an update on the matters raised during the visit to her constituency and in a subsequent communication from her.

Roads: Plants

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to s.142(8) of the Highways Act 1980, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to indemnify local authorities against claims for damages caused by planters and parklets placed in the carriageway by residents in agreement with the local authority as part of the forthcoming Transport Bill.

Mr Richard Holden: The Government has no plans at present to bring forward such legislation.

Dual Carriageways

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department issues on when Traffic Regulation Orders are necessary for providing (a) amenities and (b) improvements on the carriageway.

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department issues on (a) costs, (b) transparency and (c) enabling comments by people affected when Highways Authorities merge schemes which require the suspension of on-street parking bays into single Traffic Regulation Orders.

Mr Richard Holden: The Government has not issued guidance to local authorities in relation to making Traffic Regulation Orders. They must follow the procedures set out in regulations: The Road Traffic (Temporary Restrictions) Procedure Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/1215) and The Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/2489).

Women and Equalities

Equal Pay

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent assessment she has made of trends in equal pay in (a) York and (b) the UK.

Maria Caulfield: Equal pay refers to men and women performing equal work, or work of equal value. In comparison, the gender pay gap measures the difference between men and women’s average earnings across an organisation.The Equality Act 2010 contains strong equal pay protections and many employers proactively conduct regular equal pay audits, in order to ensure that they are not acting unlawfully. In 2014, the Government strengthened equal pay protections by introducing mandatory equal pay audits for organisations that lose an equal pay claim.The Government does not make an assessment of trends in equal pay. Individuals can bring a claim to an Employment Tribunal if they believe their employer is acting unlawfully, and figures on the number of employers doing so can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics#employment-tribunal-and-employment-appeal-tribunal-statistics-(gb) With regard to the gender pay gap, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes data on the national gender pay gap annually, this includes breakdowns by UK regions and areas. The most recent data from the ONS can be accessed here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/genderpaygapintheuk/2022

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Coal: Concessions

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many households in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr constituency are in receipt of the National Concessionary Fuel Scheme.

Graham Stuart: A total of 384 individuals are in receipt of a concessionary fuel entitlement in the Carmarthen East and Dinefwr constituency. Of these, 325 receive Cash In-Lieu and 59 receive solid fuel.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero: Data Protection

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure of 14 June 2023 at Topical Questions, T7, Official Report, column 286, what plans his Department has to (a) utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill and (b) use smart data in new sectors.

Andrew Bowie: The UK energy system is increasing in complexity, with increasing intermittent generation and consumers engaged with their energy use. In the Energy Digitalisation Strategy (2021), the Government states that data sharing and digitalisation will be crucial to managing this complexity The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is a member of the Smart Data Council, which aims to drive appropriate data sharing and best practice, and inform the evolution of Smart Data policy. The Government will work across relevant Departments and regulators to identify relevant opportunities in the energy sector.

Electricity and Renewable Energy: Prices

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of reports that gas prices determine the cost of (a) electricity and (b) renewable electricity prices.

Graham Stuart: Like all commodities markets globally, the UK's wholesale electricity market works through marginal pricing, where the price is set by the additional unit needed to meet overall demand. This provides a signal of the value of consuming or generating an additional unit at any given time, on which both operational and investment decisions can be made. As part of the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) programme, the Government is considering a range of potential options to maintain the benefits of marginal pricing, while shielding consumers from the impacts of potential future commodity price spikes and ensuring they benefit from lower cost renewables.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Three: Vodafone Group

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with Ofcom on the Vodafone-Three merger.

Kim Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has held wth Ofcom on the merger between Vodafone and Three.

Sir John Whittingdale: Matters related to telecoms are the responsibility of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) following the machinery of government changes announced on 7 February 2023. I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 22 June 2023, in my capacity as a DSIT Minister, to Question UIN 190472.